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2012 hopefuls challenged by tax deal

Mitt Romney is the only all-but-certain presidential candidate in the 'hell no' caucus. |
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Pence, too, pointed to the turnover in Congress as a reason for his opposition, saying in a Tuesday radio interview: "The American people did not vote for more stimulus...they did not vote for more uncertainty on November the second."

Palin hasn't elaborated at length on the compromise, but she took to Twitter after it was announced to call President Obama "so very, very wrong on the economy" and promote other users' praise for DeMint's stance.

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On the opposite side of the spectrum are two candidates who have embraced the deal more or less warmly: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who called it "good for the country," and South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who spoke on the Senate floor Tuesday to defend it against opponents who "stand on the sidelines."

"If we wait for the perfect proposal, the perfect agreement, then American families and American businesses are going to pay higher taxes just two weeks from now," he said, just hours after Romney's column hit newsstands.

The plurality of the GOP's 2012 field has fallen in between those two poles, offering quieter and more hedged reactions - not necessarily coming out against the agreement, but stopping well short of celebrating it, too.

For Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, that meant arguing in a television appearance that while the deal is "not perfect," he would "support it because of the tax extensions." Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took a similar tack this week, telling National Journal that the deal is "the best anyone can hope for at this point. Obviously, it's a much better deal than letting there be a complete limbo about the tax rates."

The prize for public hand-wringing may go to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who voiced tentative criticism of the legislation in a Tuesday appearance on the Fox Business Network.

"It's a 51-49 [issue] for me," he said. "I'm not going to criticize anyone who votes for it. I would probably vote against it," he said. "I think there's enough here that we should be able to stand up and say, given the last election, this is not good enough."

Even libertarian Texas Rep. Ron Paul measured his words - while he said he's inclined to support the deal "because I will see it as raising taxes otherwise," a spokesman for the congressman said Paul's final vote "depends on the deal . He will have to see what spending they add beyond the unemployment benefits extension."

It's not for nothing that would-be Obama opponents are treading carefully. The experience of the last two years has shown virtually no upside to compromising with the White House: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist probably doomed his Senate campaign by endorsing the Recovery Act and Delaware Rep. Mike Castle may have sealed his own GOP Senate primary defeat by voting for a cap-and-trade energy bill.

Tax cuts for the rich (1) won't create jobs, (2) will deepen the Federal Debt. It's time to stop being ideological and start focusing on one of the biggest problems facing the country. Terrorists? No. The debt.

What happens this week will have little effect on the 2012 elections. What happens over the next year and a half will. Lets be perfectly honest with ourselves, voters don't have long term memory. It will more than likely be the economy and jobs.

Because we have been conned, the Republicans would prefer to have Obama take the public rap on it.

That can be accomplished by 'laying low' and having Obama and his White House serve as the lightening rods. It is extremely cleaver of them. Of course, Obama is creaming in his jeans to be 'bi-partisaning', so he's hot to do the front stuff.

The House Democrats have already done their stoopid thing by ignoring "the $10 for each Billionaire for every $1 for the unemployed" and going right for a trivial peripheral item: inheritance tax.

The Democratic Party is dead folks. It's time to move-on, move on past move-on and form a third party or support one of the existing third parties. Give the Democratic Party a proper burial and find another place to put our contributions and our energy.

Here's the Democratic record in the last two years.

First: The two biggest areas where the voters wanted 'change' were in the Bush economy and the Bush 'war on terror'. Obama kept the Bush advisors in both areas, continued and accelerated the Bush bailouts and continued and expanded the 'war on terror'. These decisions should have clued us something was a miss - we'd bought a pig in a poke.

Second: Health Care - The American people wanted a government administered plan like Medicare - for everyone. (72% - CBS/New York Times poll June 2009) In back room deals, Obama and the Democrats promoted Bob Dole's 1980s private sector-based plan, effectively adding 15-18% to the cost of health care. Democrats, Independents and thoughtful Republicans opposed the plan. Obama lost more of the middle class.

Third: Financial Reform - Most Americans opposed the bailouts, opposed the use of tax money to cover the private sector's loses and opposed the expansion to over $3,400,000,000 (trillion). Obama lost more of the middle class - Independents, Democrats and thoughtful Republicans.

Fourth: "The 'Compromise" - the current 'tax compromise' on the Bush tax cuts. Again, we are back at the top....Obama has kept Bush-era advisors throughout his administration. Once more, Obama has lost liberals, Democrats, Independents and thoughtful Republicans..

Since there are no new tax cuts being considered other than Obama's Payroll tax cut, this is a moot issue. Income tax rates look like they are going to be the same as they've been for several years. That's good. A huge tax increase from these levels would have slammed the economy real hard. Double digit unemployment rates would most likely have been a result.

It's time to stop being ideological and start focusing on one of the biggest problems facing the country. Terrorists? No. The debt.

Indeed. The DEBT. Solution? Cut spending back to 2008 levels and leave it there for the next 4 or 5 years. Economic growth and the resultant increase in revenues will chip away at the deficit significantly each year.

Look, this agreement is CRAP! It's CRAP from top to bottom. If the Democrat tax hikes take place, I'll be hit pretty hard, but as a proud Tea Partier I'm SICK TO DEATH OF MAKING BAD @%&*%$# deals with leftists !!!!!!

We are going to take the reigns in the House here very soon, and the R's will have a far more powerful hand in the Senate. At that time we can REDUCE the tax rates and ELIMINATE the death tax PERMANENTLY.

A word to Republicans from a dedicated Tea Partier. DO THE RIGHT THING FOR A CHANGE!!!!! Quit doing the expedient thing, and justifying the ballooning of the budget deficit. The American people and the Tea Party sent you guys a clear message.

We are going to take the reigns in the House here very soon, and the R's will have a far more powerful hand in the Senate.

Keep drinking that bitter tea, this deal is just a preview of how your R's have screwed you and the rest of the tea baggies. I know denial is the first step of grief, but if you keep thinking republicans are gonna do the right thing you are just setting yourself for the biggest disappointment of your life.

Mr. Thune, I for one am not interested in a "perfect deal". I am interested in no more wasteful spending, which you guys in the Senate especially appear to be very good at. And if stopping wasteful spending requires nuclear budgetary war with the Marxists, then so be it. And yes, I am one of those EEEEVIL rich people who's taxes would defintitely go up. And no, I don't like paying more than my own fair share. I would strongly advise that all of you remember what happened to Robert Bennet, Mike Castle and Jane Norton. Maybe have a chitchat with Murk.

Keep drinking that bitter tea, this deal is just a preview of how your R's have screwed you and the rest of the tea baggies. I know denial is one of the first steps of grief, but if you keep thinking republicans are gonna do the right thing you are just setting yourself for the biggest disappointment of your life.

Funny thing. I count on Republicans to fight leftist tyranny and roll back an abusive state, they have a mixed record at best. You count on the Dems to be the Statist authoritarians that they are, they have a nearly perfect record at tyranny. I'll take my side any day over your wretched lot.

I am interested in no more wasteful spending, which you guys in the Senate especially appear to be very good at. And if stopping wasteful spending requires nuclear budgetary war with the Marxists, then so be it

AMEN brother!!! Amen! I'm so sick to death of making BAD deals with these BA$?@#$% !! %$#@ them! Our country is at a tipping point, and I'm tired of meeting these totalitarians half way, I'm completely fed up with it.

I promise the Republicans this: If you forget why we Tea Partiers worked so hard to send you to Congress, we'll see to it that you remember come next primary season!

This is a win-win for Obama. He gets to inject a lot of money into the system via the GOP, and he gets to pad the bill with all sorts of goodies for Democratic Congressional satraps. And he gets to blame the GOP for not cutting spending, but increasing the deficit. And your picture of Mutt Romney is scary. He is not only the GOP's worst nightmare, he is the nation's worst nightmare as well. No spine there.

Demint says he doesn't see the need to extend unemployment insurance but his state stands to drop 72,000 people off UI this month if Congress doesn't act. At the same time, they are defunding medicaid and welfare so that when these folks are off UI they'll hit the skids harder than ever.